Dreaming of Amelia (46 page)

Lucy Wexford:
What's that noise? That banging?

Mr Botherit:
The Ashbury ghost.

Mr Garcia:
It's Amelia. She's kicking the table leg. This is what she does when she is angry.

[T
he kicking stops, abruptly
]

EVIDENCE OF RILEY T SMITH

Riley:
We used the music rooms after hours to practise. Amelia has an old guitar but that's the only instrument we have.

Lucy Wexford:
But you could have used the school's resources any time! You just needed to ask.

[
Riley gazes at her steadily
]

EVIDENCE OF AMELIA DAMASKI

Mr Botherit:
Amelia, did you or Riley steal a set of castanets?

[
Amelia laughs — keeps laughing
]

EVIDENCE OF RILEY T SMITH

[
Riley laughs — keeps laughing
]

Lucy Wexford:
Riley, the fractures to your hands. Do you think the agility — the flexibility — of your hands might be affected? Permanently, I mean?

[
Stops laughing
]

EVIDENCE OF RILEY T SMITH

Mr Botherit:
Did you attack Seb Mantegna's major work?

Riley:
Why would I have done that?

Mr Botherit:
I seem to recall that everyone who went to that exhibition said that yours and Seb's were the best. So. Destroy Seb's and your work is the best.

Riley:
Seb's was better. Destroying it wouldn't have changed that.

Mr Botherit:
Maybe you had an emotional motive? We know there's romance between you and Lydia. We also know — everyone knows — that Lydia and Seb were once together. Perhaps in a jealous rage . . . ?

Riley:
There's no romance between Lydia and me. Ask Lydia.

EVIDENCE OF AMELIA DAMASKI

Mr Botherit:
Amelia, do you think Riley might have attacked Seb's major work?

Amelia:
No.

Mr Botherit:
It's just that — he's obviously an angry person. And that attack was an angry one.

Amelia
(laughs)
:
That's the best you've got?

Mr Botherit:
All right. Let's move on to the final ground — it's been suggested that you may have deceived people, that you had some ulterior motive for your friendships here at Ashbury. Perhaps you could help us figure out the nature of those friendships? Did you genuinely like anybody? Was there, for example, a secret romance between you and Toby? Were you and Riley —

Amelia:
Are you asking these questions because they're relevant or because you want the gossip?

Mr Botherit:
Can I be frank with you, Amelia? You are not helping yourself here. The grounds for termination are . . . well, let's go back to your friend in the mental institution. Would you —

Amelia:
It's okay, Mr B. I get it. You think I made her up — you think I projected my own heartbreak onto an imaginary friend. You think the fact that my mum and I don't talk, that she didn't bother to come see me at the hospital, means I'm a sad little abandoned girl, and that I went to the park to kill myself. Don't worry about it. I'm used to people telling me the truth is my imagination.

Mr Botherit:
You seem very angry, Amelia.

Amelia
(laughs)
:
Maybe
I
attacked Seb's major work.

EVIDENCE OF RILEY T SMITH

Mr Botherit:
We've all read your ghost story, Riley. And, well, we just want to know
why
you were friends with these people if you didn't like them?

[
Riley gives a steady, inscrutable gaze
]

[
Long pause
]

Mr Botherit:
Riley, you do understand that if these scholarships are terminated with retrospective effect, not only will you not get the bonus money, you'll also, technically, be required to pay everything else back?

Riley
(a brief breath of laughter)
:
Okay.

Mr Botherit:
And you have nothing else to say in your defence?

[
Riley slowly shakes his head
,
the same ironic glint in his eye
]

Mr Botherit:
Well, that concludes our interviews. The committee will meet next Friday to . . . finalise the decision, and we'll let you and Amelia know the outcome.

MONDAY

Dear Amelia,

If I were you, I wouldn't want to see me either. Fair enough. I'll stop stalking you with phone calls.

But I'll be at the Blue Danish at 3 this afternoon. I'll wear one of those Freddy masks from the
Nightmare
movies so you won't have to look at me.

Not really. I haven't got one.

I'd like to say I'm sorry, and try to explain. I know: who cares what I'd like, so you can tell me where to go on that issue. But I've also got an idea that you might want to hear.

I hope to see you there.

Lydia

 

 

Dear Mr Botherit,

I understand that the committee is having a meeting this Friday night, to finalise the termination of the scholarships of Amelia Damaski and Riley T Smith. I have read the transcript of interviews and the grounds for termination.

I hereby propose to attend this meeting.

Even though Friday is the day of the HSC results and I was
planning to have a party at Lyd's to celebrate/distract myself from misery that night.

Nevertheless, I will be at your meeting.

Until then,

I remain,

Your former student,

Emily Thompson

(and afterwards, well, I will still be her.)

TUESDAY

Dear Mrs Damaski and Mr O'Doherty,

I am a concerned resident of the Hills District, and have followed the news of the attack upon you, Mr O'Doherty, with great sympathy.

I hope that you are well on the road to recovery.

I am writing now because I have some important information concerning your daughter, Amelia, and her boyfriend, Riley T Smith. (*You will recognise his name as he is the person who attacked you.*)

I believe that my information may be relevant in the police prosecution of Riley. It also pertains to a very large sum of money that Amelia and Riley may soon receive as part of their Ashbury scholarship.

Of course, I know that your daughter's welfare is your primary concern; however, I would imagine that you would certainly be entitled — legally, ethically and morally — to this money, as compensation for the damage Riley has done to your home and your health.

May I be so bold as to suggest a meeting with you both at the Blue Danish Café at 6 pm tonight?

Yours,

A Friend

Dear Mr O'Doherty,

You might have noticed that this letter is sitting exactly where your laptop computer was when you set out tonight.

Where could your laptop be?

And what might be on that laptop? Could there be files that would be of great interest to the police?

I am a fair person, so let's make a deal. It's a one-night only offer. I need you to do one very simple thing for me.

I will call you at 9.00 pm to tell you what it is.

Once I know you have done as I ask, I will simply return the computer to you (with the photos deleted — I hope you understand I feel compelled to do that).

I give you my word that matters will end there.

I am a person who can be trusted and, as they say on television, what choice do you have but to trust me?

Cheers,

A Stranger

WEDNESDAY

 

Dear Emily,

Thank you for your email.

I'm sure that anything you have to say at the meeting this Friday would be most enlightening and, in all honesty, I'd like to have you there very much.

However, I'm afraid that the meeting is only open to
committee members. If you have anything you'd like me to share with the committee, perhaps you could put it in writing and I will pass it on to them?

Good luck with the results on Friday! Hope you're enjoying the real world!

Your affectionate (former) teacher,

Chris Botherit

PS I wonder how you got access to those grounds for termination, and that interview transcript? I rather believed that those were highly confidential! (No mention will be made here of your friend Cassie and the fact that her mother is on the committee …)

Dear Mrs Damaski and Mr O'Doherty,

I'm so sorry to have wasted your time at the Blue Danish last night!

Upon closer reflection, it occurred to me that I should speak to the police about the information I had about Riley — and they had the audacity to say it wasn't relevant!

Also, I've spoken to a lawyer friend who says you
couldn't
get access to the scholarship bonus after all.
And
I hear that they probably won't get it! (The Scholarship Committee is meeting this Friday and everybody says they are going to terminate the scholarship retrospectively, which would mean that Amelia and Riley miss out on the money.)

Apologies again,

and hoping for a safer future for us all,

A Friend

Castle Hill Police Records

STATEMENT OF PATRICK SEAN O'DOHERTY
Wednesday 17 December, 11.25 pm

I would like to withdraw my previous statement about the incident in my home on Wednesday 15 October.

I have now remembered that what actually happened was that Riley Smith knocked on my door and introduced himself. He said he was my stepdaughter's boyfriend. My wife and I have not had any contact with my stepdaughter since she ran away when she was 13, so it was a real shock to me to meet her boyfriend.

Riley said he was there to try to patch things up between my stepdaughter and me.

I suggested to him that this was none of his business, and our conversation then turned heated.

I am sorry to say that I shoved at him, as I was feeling not a little angry. Now that I reflect on it, he was probably only trying to defend himself when he punched me back. It is true that we fought for a few minutes but I don't think it would be right to say it was anybody's fault.

I think that I got a bump on the head and that's why I was confused when I spoke to the police before.

I have now got this clear, and I am very sorry for wasting police time.

Patrick Sean O'Doherty

THURSDAY

Dear Mr Botherit,

I hear that Em is planning to come to the committee meeting about Amelia and Riley tomorrow night.

Can you put my name down for that, too?

There's something I should probably tell you people.

See you then,

Toby Mazzerati

 

 

Dear Toby,

As I mentioned to Emily, I'm afraid this committee meeting is only open to members of the committee itself.

If you have something you want us to know, why don't you tell your dad and he'll pass it on at the meeting?

Hope you're well, and enjoying ‘life on the other side'.

Best wishes,

Chris Botherit

Dear Mr O'Doherty,

I've been doing a lot of thinking about promises this year, and turns out there are certain times when betraying someone's trust is exactly the right thing to do.

Cheers,

A Stranger

Castle Hill Police Records

STATEMENT OF AMELIA GRACE DAMASKI
Thursday 18 December, 2.35 pm

My name is Amelia Grace Damaski.

My mother and I moved into Patrick O'Doherty's home when I was ten.

Not long after we moved in, Patrick became my swimming coach. He used to take me to the pool on weekday mornings. The house was close to the pool, so we walked home after training so I could get changed for school.

Just after I turned 11, Patrick asked if he could take a photo of me while I was getting changed. After that, he would often take photos of me while I was getting changed. Maybe once every week or two. At first, I didn't mind because I used to like getting my photo taken. I thought it meant I was pretty. I did poses for him like I'd seen in magazines, and sometimes he suggested how I should pose. I even thought it was fun.